heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Questions about designing a terrarium.
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Jennie
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heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by Jennie »

Hi All,

We are going back to hermit crabs after a rather long break. My old set-up has been happily living at my son's old kindy for years now and so we need to start again. My son wants to convert his fish tank into a crab set-up but we just had a bit of a surprise when we emptied it to discover that even through the tank is glass (including the bottom) there is a plastic tray which fits over the entire bottom of the tank. So I am not sure about using a heat mat on it. Can we put the heat mat on the side of the tank and use something else to keep the sand warm (heat rock or heat cable?) or should we use two heats mats on two perpandicular walls?

Many thanks Jennie
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Wai
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Re: heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by Wai »

How big is the tank? Depending on how big the tank is, you might be better off using a ceramic heat emitter with a thermostat. Is it a heat mat (used inside the tank) or under tank heat (used outside the tank) that you have?
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Ginger
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Re: heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by Ginger »

I'm guessing that this is not removeable? (From your description, it sounds a bit like an under-gravel filter to me...) also, usually you do not put a heat mat on the base of a crab tank, as there is the risk of burning moulting crabs.
Jennie
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Re: heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by Jennie »

Hi Wai,

the tank is 75cm long, 37cm wide x 38cm high. The mat is a 7watt under the tank heater (which sticks to the outside of the glass). I was originally planning to use two, one underneath and one on the back wall which is what we did last time. the ceramic one might be our solution then but I don't know anything about them.

Hi Ginger, no its not removable, its not an under the gravel filter, just part of how the tank is constructed I think. Not sure about the risk to burning moulting crabs from the heat mat, I haven't heard that before when we use to have crabs. Does that apply to the UTH?

Many thanks for your replies.
Cheers Jennie
Jennie
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Re: heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by Jennie »

I just worked out my sons tank is 28 gallons. Is that big enough for a ceramic heat emitter? Would I use that in combination with the uth heat mat low on the wall of the tank? How do you keep the humidity up with them? Sorry for all the questions! I am trying to reserch the ceramic heat emitters but they are all new to me! Also I am a little worried if a crab managed to climb on it. I remember before how good they were at climbing up and the across the roof of the tank!
Jennie
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Re: heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by Jennie »

Actually don't worry about it - I just reread my old posts from 5 years ago and answered a few of my own questions! It is funny how much you can forget in 5 years! I will go with the two UTH matts attached to the two side walls. I had forgot that was what I ended up with last time anyway! Great - that is much easier and hopefully we will be on our way soon.
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ladybug15057
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Re: heating for glass tank with plastic lined bottom

Post by ladybug15057 »

also, usually you do not put a heat mat on the base of a crab tank, as there is the risk of burning moulting crabs.
For close to 17 years I have used an UTH and so far no deep fried hermies. But they do sell a Thermostat (not to be confused with a rheostat) to regulate the temp. For those cold days/nights, you may wish to consider an alternate heat source too. A UTH does not do much for heating the substrate further than an inch or two from where it is mounted on the outside wall.
Welcome back to crabbing!! :D
Marie (aka ladybug15057)

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